


Three Dimensions

by MsFangirlFace



Category: Orphan Black (TV)
Genre: AU, F/F, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-13
Updated: 2016-06-13
Packaged: 2018-07-14 21:29:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 2,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7191209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MsFangirlFace/pseuds/MsFangirlFace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'In private, Beth thought of her lovers as an angel and a devil: good, sweet Alison who baked for every occasion and wiped away her tears, and the altogether different Angela, who, on the one incidence that they had attempted to go on a date, had looked across the table at her and said: “Romance isn’t dead, it’s just bullshit."'</p>
<p>Twelve months in twelve minifics.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This started from smut and a love of DeAngelis, and ended up like this. I hope you find something you enjoy in it.

In private, Beth thought of her lovers as an angel and a devil: good, sweet Alison who baked for every occasion and wiped away her tears, and the altogether different Angela, who, on the one incidence that they had attempted to go on a date, had looked across the table at her and said: “Romance isn’t dead, it’s just bullshit.”

They each brought different things out in her: with Alison she snuggled and watched soccer games on weekend mornings, with Angela she sparred and drank shots until the early hours, and between them, they made her whole.


	2. January

  
When Beth had explained the situation to Alison - when she had said, explicitly, that Angie was important, essential on some indescribable level - and Alison had said she needed time to think, Beth had assumed it was a politeness, that it was the end.

  
She had not imagined that Alison would return, let alone that when she did it would be with a ringbinder full of print outs from the internet and a copy of _The Ethical Slut_ , bookmarked halfway through. She didn’t think they would be drawing relationship diagrams on Alison’s floral craft paper and discussing ground rules between kisses.

  
So, whilst she listened to Alison humming along to the radio as she got ready for bed, she reflected on how lucky she was.

  
When Alison snuggled up next to her for sleep, their bodies fitting together like puzzle pieces, she had to try, so hard, not to hold her too tight.


	3. February

“So, I told Alison about us.”

  
Angela heard Beth’s voice and paused in zipping up her pants to look up and speak. “Why?”

  
“I just thought the fact that I really like her and that we’ve been... this for like five years meant that it was probably necessary,” Beth replied. She was looking around the room for a piece of her clothing and didn’t meet Angela’s eyes.

  
Angela shrugged and carried on dressing. “I’ve never told anyone I’ve dated,” she said. She knew that Beth was just following the rules, but she was not Beth. She had never quite summoned up the energy to tell someone she didn’t intend to have a relationship with that she was also not in a relationship with someone else, regardless of the length of time that not-relationship had lasted.

  
“I think it’s fair to say we already knew we had quite different moral compasses.” Angela watched Beth pick up her cellphone from the desk and slip it into her pocket. “It’s not a big deal.”

  
Angela put her sunglasses over her head and flipped her hair over her shoulder. “As long as you don’t expect me to come round and play happy families,” she said.

  
“Don’t flatter yourself, DeAngelis,” Beth said, rolling her eyes.

  
“But it’s so hard not to,” Angela replied. She mocked blowing kisses in Beth’s direction before leaving the room.


	4. March

Alison had been living with her mother since her divorce, and so when Beth asked her to move in with her it was a relief to know that she was less likely to end up committing a murder than she had feared she was. Mostly, though, she was happy to be asked, and glowed with the feeling that things were working out for her.

  
There was just one thing that was making her nervous, and for what felt like the first time in a long time it wasn’t about what the neighbours would say or who might disapprove.

  
When she paused in the doorway with the first of her boxes she saw the look of fear that Beth quickly disguised. “Are you sure Angela won’t mind us moving in together?” she asked, trying to reassure Beth with a touch to her shoulder. “It’s just, everything I’ve read says how important it is to deal with jealousy as soon as possible and-.”

  
“Angela is not jealous,” Beth replied after a moment or two, her deep breath of relief obvious to Alison. “Not unless jealousy now manifests as making frequent jokes about lesbians and u-hauls.”

  
“Okay. Good.” Alison reached in and kissed her softly, before pulling away and saying “Then let’s get on with this.”


	5. April

After the time she had spent working up to her lovers meeting – kissing Alison over and over and telling her she was precious, explaining to Angela why it was something she would really like to happen and not a total waste of her time – she had not expected it to end up quite like it did.

She should have expected it from Angela, with retrospect; expected how she looked up, when Beth had barely finished clearing away the dessert plates (Alison had made a lemon meringue pie) and nonchalantly asked “So are we going to fuck or what?”

She would not have expected it from Alison – Alison, who had a strong preference towards having sex with the lights off – and yet it had happened.

She watched Angela on her knees, one hand moving between Alison’s legs and the other one pulling the smaller woman’s to her by her hair, whilst she sat on the other side of the bed, trying to do something than marvel at the turn of events. Her distance was a fact which was not missed by either of the other women: Angela looked up to say “Childs, you going to pull your weight here? I only have so many hands...” whilst Alison, stilling the movements of her hips against Angela’s hand a little, beckoned for her to come over. She willed her body to move, and as her fingers found Alison’s clit and her lips found first one and then the other woman’s lips for kisses (Alison’s passionate and sweet, Angela’s rough and sharp), she wondered why she hadn’t thought about the potential of this earlier.


	6. May

When Beth arrived home she found Angela in the kitchen. She was barefoot on the tiles, dressed hurriedly with her hair in a messy ponytail, rather aggressively trying to navigate the coffee machine.

“Alright?” Beth asked, the feeling of arriving to her lover and her girlfriend having met up without her, even though she had encouraged it, was just a little strange.

Angela turned around briefly before speaking. “Excellent timing. I’ve left her in bed: she’s a bit worn out but I’m sure she could go again.” Even though Beth couldn’t see her face, she could hear the smirk in her voice. “She is absolutely _exquisite_.”

Beth rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I kind of knew that already.”

Angela turned around and looked seriously at Beth. “Just as long as you know there’s no reason to be jealous. There’s more than enough Deangelis to go around.” She turned her back to Beth’s incredulous look and hit the coffee machine again. “I’ll just go to Starbucks, leave you guys to do your thing,” she said, and with a brief stop in the hallway to gather up her things and shout goodbye to Alison, she was gone.


	7. June

Their Tuesday night arrangement started after the second time they had all eaten dinner together, when what Angela had considered to be the inevitable move to the bedroom had been delayed by the revelation that she couldn’t cook, or more specifically, the laugh that had escaped Beth’s mouth when Alison had said “It must be your turn to make food next time, Angie."

She had told the bits of the story she felt like; that her father had worked long hours and couldn’t cook himself so instead taught her to order take out, leaving out words like ‘neglect’ and ‘irresponsible’ which she had heard whispered behind her back as a child. Even with that spin, though, it would not do for Alison, and so her cookery 101 was scheduled for Tuesday evenings. 

It was a neat arrangement, if sickeningly suburban. Angela tried her best to get into Alison’s pants until she was ordered to pay attention, and when Alison left for rehearsals her and Beth would eat whatever she had produced and flip a coin to decide if they were going to fuck or play video games. By the end of week four of this routine, she was able to feed herself without the use of the telephone, but Alison had put her name on the wall planner for Tuesdays right up until the fall.


	8. July

Beth knew that she _should_ find this situation strange, the book she was reading on her Kindle being accompanied by the quite inappropriate soundtrack of her lovers fucking. They were in the spare room, which wasn’t directly above the living room, but Alison’s moans carried regardless.

She knew she should feel uncomfortable, but instead she found herself preoccupied, as she heard the unmistakeable sound of her girlfriend approaching orgasm, with how smug Angela would be to have brought that about.

By the time she returned to reading there was virtual silence from upstairs and she tried not to get distracted by thinking of comebacks she had for Angela and kisses she had for Alison.


	9. August

The spare room had become known as ‘Angie’s room’, though she had actually never slept there. It was just the room where she fucked one or the other of them, the room where they put belongings she had left behind, overwhelmingly makeup and underwear.

  
Despite this, Alison changed the sheets with the same regularly as the main bedroom, tidied up after every visit, no matter how many times Beth tried to tell her that the level of attention she was giving was unnecessary, how in five years of being... whatevers, Angela had never stayed overnight.

  
So when the doorbell rang in the early hours of the morning and Beth reluctantly opened the door to the sight of Angela with a stitched-up wound in her forehead and a holdall in one hand saying “The hospital said I shouldn’t be on my own in case I’m concussed,” it felt strange to lock the door behind her and follow her up the stairs.

  
However, it was perhaps the strangest thing that, after Angela had got into bed and Beth had wordlessly settled herself in the armchair opposite her, she felt like having Angela so near was something she could get used to.


	10. September

This was not the evening Angela had anticipated as she arrived at the house, and, letting herself in with her key, decorated with a key chain handmade by Alison, announced “Your 5pm booty call is here, ladies.”

  
After a pause, a small voice had come from the direction of the living room - “I’m in here. Beth’s gone to the store,” – and she had followed the sound until she found Alison curled up under a blanket on the sofa.

  
It had all happened so fast – Alison saying she was sick, through her drowsiness patting the space next to her on the sofa – and before she knew it she had Alison’s head against her stomach, and had draped an arm around her waist.

  
When Beth returned home, laden with orange juice and the over-the-counter medicines, all Angela could do by way of explanation was shrug.


	11. October

“Do you love Angie?” Alison asked, moving her fingertips over the bare skin of Beth’s chest as she spoke.

  
Beth’s initial reaction was to snort with laughter and she had to remind herself that she wasn’t actually with Angela now; she didn’t need that distancing bluster they hid behind when she was with Alison. “She’s important to me.” Alison made a small noise of acknowledgement and Beth could tell she was waiting for something. “Do you love Angie?”

  
Alison bit her lip and reached for Beth’s hand. “I think I do.”

  
Beth had a feeling of dread – of Alison getting hurt, of Angela reacting in a way which disrupted the delicate balance that the three of them had – but then she remembered this was Alison, and not her; Alison, whose softness inspired the same in others, who had built a relationship with Angela based on something other than snarkiness and pretending they didn’t need each other, and so she reached up to kiss her and said “You should tell her.”


	12. November

Beth didn’t think she had consciously formed the words, but as she lay back catching her breath, underwear around her ankles (they rarely fully undressed, as if being naked with each other was the equivalent of an engagement), they came out anyway: “Are you happy?”

  
Angela sat up in bed and spoke without looking at Beth. “With you and Ali?”

  
“Yeah.” Beth fidgeted with the buttons on her shirt before she started re-fastening them.

  
“Sure.” Angela pulled her pants up and swung her legs off the bed. “I haven’t had this much pussy since training.”

  
Beth laughed softly. She thought Angela looked like she was going to speak again but the room stayed quiet.


	13. December

Alison had decided from the moment Angela had told them her lease was almost up that she was going to move in with them, and much to Angela’s confusion and Beth’s amusement, she didn’t see it as being up for discussion.

  
She set out her arguments - Angela was here every weekend, there was more than enough space for another person, it would make it much easier to organise their schedules, she would be able to make sure Angela was getting enough sleep - and she cut across Angela’s protests to say “I’m sorry, but I’m putting my foot down.”

  
She saw Angela shake her head (with resignation, she hoped) and look at Beth, who shrugged and said “It would give us more Call of Duty time.”

  
Alison couldn’t help but beam as Angela nodded and she gave them both a quick kiss in turn.

 


	14. Epilogue

In private, Beth still thought of her partners as an angel and a devil, though the binary was looser these days: the angel would occasionally use swear words and devil made her coffee when she was stressed.

  
She liked these little subversions, the nights where Alison pinned her to the bed demanding “Tell me that you’re mine” before she would move her hands lower, the days where Angela would throw a blanket over her as she lay, half-asleep, on the couch. In fact, they gave her a particular kind of thrill.

  
She wondered whether she just needed an angel and a devil, that particular mix of traits, to fulfil her, but concluded that she probably just needed _them_.


End file.
